—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Iowa State wrestling coach Kevin Dresser (right) poses with David Carr in a trip to Humboldt. Dresser and the Cyclones will compete against fellow Humboldt graduate Tony Ersland and Purdue on Dec. 20 in the Humboldt gym.

HUMBOLDT — When Kevin Dresser took over for the Iowa State wrestling program, Chad Beaman knew exactly what he wanted to have happen.

Beaman, Humboldt’s head wrestling coach, wanted to bring Dresser, a Humboldt graduate, and the Cyclones into the Wildcat gym.

“When Kevin went to Ames, it was on my mind, thinking about getting a dual here in Humboldt,” Beaman said. “We talked about it and now we made it happen.”

Not only will the Cyclones compete in a Division I dual in front of a large Humboldt crowd, but they will also face another Humboldt graduate in Tony Ersland and the Purdue Boilermakers.

The two squads will faceoff in a dual on Dec. 20 in the Humboldt gym.

Ersland has been head coach at Purdue for the past five seasons. He has sent 29 wrestlers to the NCAA championships and has twice matched a program high with eight qualifiers in 2015 and 2019.

Dresser, who was the 2019 National Wrestling Coaches’ Association Coach of the Year, has been at Iowa State for three seasons.

Dresser won state titles for Humboldt in 1980 and 1981 before going to Iowa, where he won an NCAA championship in 1986.

Ersland won state titles in 1991 and 1992 for the Wildcats and wrestled at Iowa.

Dresser coached high school wrestling in Virginia and then went to Virginia Tech. Ersland coached at Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Northwestern and Nebraska.

“Ever since he has been there (Ames), we have been talking back and forth that it would be nice to get something in Humboldt for a dual,” Beaman said. “He presented to me toward the end of the high school wrestling season to see if we (Humboldt) could get a date set up for Purdue.

“To have both guys that are from Humboldt and both teams that could legitimately be in the Top-10 — this will be awesome.”

Beaman is looking forward to the opportunity to bring both alumni back to Humboldt in front of a standing room only crowd.

“How cool of an event will this be?,” Beaman said. “It will be an opportunity to pack the house. They will represent their programs and Humboldt.”

Both Dresser and Ersland have returned to Humboldt and gave back to the community numerous times.

“Both coaches have given back at different times and done camps. We’ve offered to pay them and they’ve done it free of charge,” Beaman said. “They’ve always given back to Humboldt and this is another way to do that.

“I can’t tell you how many calls I’ve already had about it and people asking me to hold tickets. This is pretty cool and everyone is excited.”

With tough schedules in the Big 12 and Big Ten, Beaman was happy to see the two grads pull together a non-conference dual.

“Both teams have strict schedules in their conferences,” Beaman said. “They have a little flexibility in their schedule, but they were able to pin down a date to compete.

“We are still working out some things as far as time and tickets. Both coaches have 100 percent cleared the date. We just have to figure out how tickets will work within the NCAA guidelines.”